Erie County, New York: drinking water report. Erie County – Buffalo and its suburbs – serves about 950,000 residents.
Erie County – Buffalo and its suburbs – serves about 950,000 residents. The Erie County Water Authority and the Buffalo Water Authority draw from Lake Erie and the Niagara River, two abundant Great Lakes sources. Lake Erie is the shallowest of the Great Lakes, making it more susceptible to warming, algal blooms, and shoreline contamination than its deeper neighbors.
Harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie's western basin produce microcystin toxins that occasionally reach detectable levels at Buffalo-area intakes, though the eastern basin where Buffalo draws water is less affected. New York State's PFAS MCLs of 10 ppt for PFOA and PFOS provide strict protection.
UCMR5 data shows low-level PFAS detections in county systems. According to the New York State DOH's 2024 monitoring data, PFAS levels in the Buffalo water system were below state MCLs. The county's industrial legacy – including the Love Canal Superfund site in neighboring Niagara County – has shaped public awareness of environmental contamination in the region.
Erie County benefits from abundant Great Lakes water and New York's strict PFAS standards. Aging infrastructure and lead service lines in Buffalo's older housing stock are the more immediate household-level concerns.
Check your water for data specific to your area. A filter certified for lead reduction is practical in older homes. Our water filter guide covers effective options. Pull your detailed report, and visit our New York page for statewide data.
Drinking water is one exposure route. These federal datasets also cover Erie County, NY.
The EPA places Erie County, NY in Zone 1 - the EPA's highest-risk category, where the predicted average indoor radon level is above 4 pCi/L. Zone maps predict an area's radon potential from geology and existing indoor readings; they say nothing about a specific house. Testing is the only way to know your own level.
78% of homes in Erie County, NY were built before 1980, and 38% before 1950. Residential lead paint was banned in 1978, so housing age is the strongest available proxy for lead-paint exposure. This describes the county's housing stock, not any one home.
Modelled annual fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) in Erie County, NY averages 7.2 µg/m³, within the EPA's annual standard of 9 µg/m³. These are CDC modelled county estimates rather than readings from a specific monitor.
How radon zones work · Air quality by county · Lead exposure guide